A short recon of what’s out there that might draw your attention, updated throughout the day...so check back often.
In the News: (Registration may be required to read some stories)
McCain's Medicine - Riding low in the polls, it seems, has allowed John McCain to take some policy risks. At Tuesday's Republican primary debate, he talked about the need to junk the tax code to make it fairer and flatter. Then Mr. McCain followed up with a health-care reform announced in Iowa yesterday, perhaps recapturing the aura of political creativity that animated his Presidential bid in 2000. (READ MORE)
Nobel Prize to Gore, U.N. Group - Former Vice President Al Gore and the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change won the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize Friday for their efforts to spread awareness of man-made climate change and lay the foundations for counteracting it. (READ MORE)
Democrats Feel NASCAR Needle - The immunization of Democratic House staffers against a host of major illnesses before attending NASCAR races for a public health fact-finding mission is being criticized by Republican lawmakers who call it an overreaction and an insult to the sport's fans. (READ MORE)
Marines Won't Face Charges - Charges will no longer be pursued against a company of Marines who were yanked out of Afghanistan by a three-star general on suspicion of criminal wrongdoing, a lawyer involved in the case said yesterday. (READ MORE)
Iraqis Sue Blackwater in U.S. Federal Court - Iraqi families filed a wrongful-death lawsuit yesterday against the private security firm Blackwater, claiming that the security company and its affiliates violated U.S. law in committing "extrajudicial killings and war crimes" in last month's shootout in Baghdad's Nisour Square. (READ MORE)
Bush Ignores China, to Meet Dalai Lama - President Bush will ignore objections by the Chinese government and host the Dalai Lama at the White House on Tuesday, in addition to attending a Congressional Gold Medal ceremony for the exiled Tibetan Buddhist leader at the Capitol on Wednesday. (READ MORE)
Edwards, Obama Hit Hillary for Iran Vote - Democratic presidential hopefuls, Sen. Barack Obama and John Edwards, are attacking front-runner Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton for essentially giving President Bush the green light to declare war on Iran. (READ MORE)
From the Front:
Iraq Pundit: It's Not Moktada's Fault - Remember all the reports of the most powerful, the most popular, the most important Moktada Al Sadr? According to the mainstream media, it was inevitable that Moktada would naturally emerge as the leader of Iraq. Well, it appears the media might be back-pedaling. You know that "young nationalist" leader? Seems like the Iraqi people have our own ideas about the half-wit. (READ MORE)
On the Web:
Naomi Schaefer Riley: A Revelation - The event had been sold out for weeks. Tickets were being offered on the black market for three times their face value. With 30 minutes to show time, the crowds were forming outside, some wolfing down sandwiches in the parking lot. For this much excitement, people around here generally expect some serious football. Tonight, though, the buzz is over a debate between biologist Richard Dawkins and mathematician John Lennox. The subject, which may be even more important to this audience than whether Alabama can beat Auburn at the Iron Bowl this year: Does God exist? (READ MORE)
Collin Levy: The Prosecutor and the Salesman - If you'd told voters that 2008 would see two supposedly liberal Northeast Republicans duking it out for the title of most conservative, someone probably would have come to take your temperature. And yet it's a good year for supply-siders when a former New York mayor and a former Massachusetts governor are going mano a mano over who is the baddest tax cutter east of the Mississippi. Mr. Giuliani calls Mr. Romney the governor from "Taxachusetts." Mr. Romney, who has bragged that he's the only candidate to sign the Anti-Tax Pledge, says he thinks the former mayor's claims to be the better fiscal conservative are "baloney." You know that hurts. (READ MORE)
Peggy Noonan: The GOP's 20% Problem - Fred Thompson gives "a very incoherent and not very concise stump speech," peaked months ago, and is the campaign's "biggest dud." Mitt Romney has "an authenticity problem"; he is "almost too mechanical about the issues." John McCain faces "enormous hurdles," and the "irony" of his quest is that he may just be repeating 2000. Mike Huckabee has "the obvious problems--being from Hope, Ark., and quite frankly having the last name Huckabee." The craven Republicans are "terrified about losing the presidency after losing Congress." All this comes from Terry McAuliffe, longtime Democratic Party mover, maven and moneyman, who's obviously hoping for a Democratic win. (READ MORE)
Mike S. Adams: Diversity Stories: How to Put a Condom on a Cucumber - Just a few minutes before I sat down to write this column, the Dean of Arts and Sciences at UNC-Wilmington sent the following note: “Colleagues: The Chancellor and Provost are making a special point at Deans’ Council and Administrative Cabinet of asking us what’s going on in the area of diversity. Whenever there are activities or achievements in your units that support the university's diversity goal, I would appreciate your passing them along to me so I’ll have some good stuff to report at these meetings. Thanks, David.” Naturally, as a columnist who writes almost exclusively on diversity issues, I’m in a great position to pass along news and information relating to the university’s efforts to fulfill its commitment to diversity. (READ MORE)
Mike Gallagher: Senator Obama's brand of patriotism - Wanna see a liberal go bonkers? Dare to suggest that liberals aren’t very patriotic, nor do they love their country very much. Their heads will start rotating like the little girl possessed by the devil in “The Exorcist.” But it is mighty difficult to think otherwise when the man who will likely be either the presidential or vice-presidential Democratic nominee in 2008 is perfectly content with telling the world that he is unwilling to display an American flag. (READ MORE)
Dick Morris and Eileen McGann: Why the Democrats are backing Hillary - The question looms over the Democratic primary: Why are rank-and-file Democrats so determined to nominate Hillary Clinton for president? With her lead now growing and her vote share registering in the mid-40s, she is increasingly likely to win the nomination. Why? There is every reason why the Democrats should be more cautious. Desperate to win and bring eight years of Republican rule to a close, they realize that Hillary is a red flag to many voters and would be the most polarizing nominee they could select. (READ MORE)
Linda Chavez: Profits, Not Unions, Save Jobs - Workers at Chrysler's U.S. plants went back to work six hours after the United Auto Workers union struck the automaker this week. The once powerful UAW, which in its heyday had more than 1.5 million members, used to be able to bring Detroit to its knees. No more. Today the UAW claims only 640,000 active workers, and its major goal in negotiations with the big car companies is to keep that number from shrinking. But the battle ultimately may be a losing one -- and the union is largely to blame. It costs Chrysler an average of $75.86 an hour to employ each worker, according to the Associated Press, which is the highest in the American auto industry. (READ MORE)
Mona Charen: Of Polar Bears and Consensus - Consensus can be wrong. So warned The New York Times in a science section piece on Oct. 9. "Diet and Fat: A Severe Case of Mistaken Consensus" reviewed the history of our belief that dietary fat was as big a health risk as smoking. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop declared as much in 1988. He was speaking not for himself but for the scientific community, which was nearly unanimous in fingering fat as the cause of heart disease and cancer. The trouble was, study after study failed to prove the hypothesis. (READ MORE)
David Limbaugh: Liberty or Security -- a False Choice - I doubt it's the Democrats' concern for freedom and civil liberties that drives their opposition to extending the Protect America Act. Rather, it's their failure to take the threat posed by global jihadists seriously enough. Congress passed the Protect America Act in August, over much Democratic opposition, to authorize continued wiretapping under the NSA terrorist surveillance program. But the law is set to expire in January unless Congress votes to extend it. (READ MORE)
Paul Weyrich: Destructive Congressional Criticism - The continual droning in Congress about the Iraq War and the need for the United States to declare defeat and impeach the judgment of President George W. Bush and our top military commanders, such as General David Petraeus, highlights a deficiency in Congress which rarely is addressed. Only 29% of current United States Senators and 23% of Representatives have served in a branch of the United States Armed Forces. These numbers are down from 1991, the height of the Persian Gulf War, when 68% of Senators and 48% of Representatives had served. After the 2008 election the proportion is likely to decrease again in view of retirements. (READ MORE)
Ken Blackwell: SCHIP: The Mad Hatter Matter - In “Alice in Wonderland,” during the tea party, the Mad Hatter sat down to a beautiful white linen tablecloth. He proceeded to make a mess in front of himself, but instead of cleaning up, he just moved to another spot and made another mess. And so on down the table. The other day, I realized that parable was applicable to the government-run State Children’s Health Insurance Program. If Lewis Carroll were writing today, he might include members of Congress along with the fantastically unusual beings on the other end of the looking glass. (READ MORE)
Daniel Pipes: Zionism's Bleak Present - "We are all Keynsians now," Richard Nixon famously asserted just as the economic theories of John Maynard Keynes fell into disrepute. Likewise, one could have said with similar confidence in 1989, as Israel's existence reached wide acceptance, "We are all Zionists now." No longer. Count the ways Israel is under siege: from Iranians building a nuclear bomb, Syrians stockpiling chemical weapons, Egyptians and Saudis developing serious conventional forces, Hizbullah attacking from Lebanon, Fatah from the West Bank, Hamas from Gaza, and Israel's Muslim citizens becoming politically restive and more violent. (READ MORE)
Victor Davis Hanson: Hope Yet for Iraq? - Iraq for most Americans is now a toxic subject - best either ignored or largely evoked to blame someone for something in the past. Any visitor to Iraq can see that the American military cannot be defeated there, but also is puzzled over exactly how we could win - victory being defined as fostering a stable Iraqi constitutional state analogous to, say, Turkey. But war is never static. Over the last 90 days, there has been newfound optimism, as Iraqis are at last stepping forward to help Americans secure their country. (READ MORE)
Bill Roggio: Taliban parade captured Pakistani soldiers in South Waziristan - As the fighting rages between the Taliban and the Pakistani military in North Waziristan, the situation in South Waziristan is quiet. Over 40 days ago, the Baitullah Mehsud, the powerful Taliban commander in South Waziristan, captured nearly 300 Pakistani soldiers without a shot being fired. The Pakistani government has been negotiating for their release ever since. Just one day after the capture, the government released 100 Taliban prisoners "in an effort to pave the way for the release of 210 kidnapped soldiers." The Taliban responded by executing and mutilating three of the soldiers, and releasing 31 others. (READ MORE)
Ilya Somin: Atheism and Proselytization - David's post about Christianity, Judaism, and proselytization gives me an opportunity say a few words about the interesting subject of whether atheists should proselytize for their position. The strong pro-proselytization stance of atheist writers such as Christopher Hitchens and Richard Dawkins leads many people to assume that proselytization is an inherent requirement of atheism, or at least that most atheists put a high priority on persuading theists of the nonexistence of God. Neither claim is true. The majority of atheists have little or no commitment to proselytization. And to balance Hitchens or Dawkins, there are atheist philosophers such as Michael Martin, who defend "friendly atheism" - a generally nonconfrontational approach to theists (for those who may not know; Martin is one of the most important contemporary philosophers of atheism). (READ MORE)
David Bernstein: Ann Coulter, Christian Chauvinist - Ann Coulter is taking a lot of flack for saying that Jews should convert to Christianity, and that they need to do so to be "perfected." Some, including the talk show host who was interviewing her, suggest that her comments were anti-Semitic. I don't think so, they reflected chauvinism about Christianity, not hostility to Jews. I'm sure Coulter would say that Muslims, Buddhists, Zoroastrians, and everybody else should also become Christians. It was the interviewer who, when Coulter suggested she'd like all Americans to be Christians, specifically asked about Jews. (READ MORE)
Uncle Jimbo: Civilian casualties are always a tragedy - Just not necessarily our fault. "BAGHDAD - A U.S. attack killed 19 insurgents and 15 civilians, including nine children, northwest of the capital Thursday — one of the heaviest civilian death tolls in an American operation in recent months. The military said it was targeting senior leaders of al-Qaida in Iraq." One of the biggest challenges in Counter-Insurgency (COIN) is managing the tension between a need to conduct combat operations and the desire to minimize civilian casualties. I discussed the way this affects Rules of Engagement in depth yesterday. A factor of this is vividly portrayed in the tragic story above where 15 women and children were killed alongside 19 insurgents. But a fair view of the situation requires us to examine the specifics about the civilians. (READ MORE)
Right Truth: Schwarzenegger Signs Historic Iran Divestment Bill - Every State in the United States and every nation around the world who wants to keep Iran from getting the bomb, needs to follow Schwarzenegger's lead. (Thanks to Myrtus, and others who emailed me this) “Sacramento, CA--11 October 2007--Today, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed Assemblyman Joel Anderson's (R-El Cajon) Assembly Bill 221 to divest California's public retirement funds from billions of dollars invested in key foreign companies that invest in Iran.” (READ MORE)
John Hawkins: The Goracle Captures The Nobel Peace Prize - "Thanks to Al Gore, now polar bears will no longer be drowning, (which means they'll be) free to continue to kill and maim any humans that comes into contact with them, (thereby) contributing to world peace." -- Cassy Fiano Believe it or not, the Norwegian Nobel Prize Committee has handed out a 2nd Nobel Peace Prize for annoying American conservatives in a mere five years time. Yes, I know that sounds very "high school" of them, but they really are that shallow. In fact, when they gave Jimmy Carter an award back in 2002, despite the fact that he hadn't done much of anything that year to merit it, the Committee Chairman basically admitted what they were doing: (READ MORE)
Wolf Pangloss: Why Are Conservative Women Getting Smeared? - Since the Bill Clinton inspired, George Soros funded MoveOn.ORG smeared General David Petraeus with an unusually inexpensive full page ad in the New York Times, the Hillary Clinton founded, George Soros funded, neocommunist propaganda organ Media Matters has had a successful couple of weeks getting its smears of non-Leftist commentators out into the marketplace of ideas. Bill O’Reilly, who is not all that conservative but more of an verbal street fighter, was viciously attacked over a clumsy and weird sounding comment about Sylvia’s Restaurant. (READ MORE)
Jay Tea: Al Gore Doesn't Deserve The Nobel Prize - Well, Al Gore has won the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize. And I have to say that I don't think he deserves it. When his accomplishments are stacked up next to those of some recent winners, he just doesn't make the cut. In 2005, the International Atomic Energy Agency and Mohamed ElBaradei won it for their tireless efforts against nuclear proliferation. It was under their watch that India, Pakistan, and North Korea all tested bombs, Iran raced towards it own bomb, and Libya revealed that it had had a nuclear weapons program for years. (READ MORE)
Dymphna: The Poker Game - Barry Rubin’s book, The Truth About Syria, is the subject of a recent review by the astute Lee Harris. Before getting to the specifics of Mr. Harris’ review, here is an editorial review from the Amazon site: “[This] . . . is a welcome contribution to the largely unimpressive body of research on modern Syria. Rubin’s well-sourced study provides an unvarnished appraisal of Syrian politics, making no apologies for the brutal internal and destabilizing foreign policies that characterized the 30 year rule of Syrian leader Hafiz Assad and that persist under Hafiz’s son and successor Bashar…” Mr. Harris’ essay, from the October 9th Policy Review, based on Rubin’s work, is a disturbing look at the amateur diplomacy that the U.S. — and the West in general — practices in the Middle East. We are the personification of useful idiots and have been set up to be betrayed over and over again. Like a man with no memory, we lurch from crisis to crisis without ever learning anything from experience: (READ MORE)
Melanie Phillips: Britain thrilled by offer to submit or die - The open letter from 38 Muslim scholars to the Pope and the leaders of other Christian churches on the subject of peace between the faiths has got the British establishment purring with pleasure. The Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of London have fallen on their knees and given thanks. The Times raved: “Rarely, indeed, has the Muslim world spoken out so clearly on the need for global peace or addressed Christianity in such terms of respect and acceptance of common beliefs… it will make it harder for those who thrive on a narrow, militant interpretation of Islam to pose as the true guardians of the faith.” I must have been reading a different document altogether. For it is a classic piece of manipulation and, I’m afraid to say, menace. (READ MORE)
Neptunus Lex: Shouting at the choir - Anyone who touches base anywhere else but these our humble blogo-lodgings - a dauntingly high percentage, I intuit - will probably have read about the Graeme Frost thing. Beginning at the beginning, the President vetoed a continuation of the popular State Children’s Health Insurance Program, or SCHIP. Congress had voted not just to continue the program - which seeks to throw a safety net under those too hard-working or otherwise successful to be covered by Medicare but too poor to afford private health care, but also to extend it to families at up to 300% of the poverty level from the previous 200% threshold. For a family of four, that would mean benefits would now accrue to those earning around $62,000 per year. (READ MORE)
Jules Crittenden: Armocide - Sticky issue. Bad time to be making principled, entirely justified semantic arguments about the events of 90 years ago. Especially considering the nature of many regimes past and present with which, for purposes of expediency in matters of more imminent concern, we have associated ourselves. Advice to Congress: Drop it. Listen to Holocaust survivor/resolution backer Lantos, the committee chairman, when he counseled against jeopardizing U.S. interests on a point of history at this particular point in history, before his emotions or something got the better of him and he voted for it. (READ MORE)
Allahpundit: (Video) Free-for-all over lefty smear of Young America’s Foundation - It’s Jason Mattera, whom you’ll remember from his confrontation with Jack Murtha about Haditha, vs. Adam Kokesh, wringing a few more minutes of free publicity out of his obnoxious smear. Colmesy defends his boy with the tried and true lefty “satire” defense while Kokesh plays j’accuse with a list of Muslim-hating speakers — including, in his own nutroots-speak, the “Coultergeist” — which he claims YAF has invited to campus but which Mattera and fellow YAF member Sergio Gor deny. (READ MORE)
Bryan Preston: The Armenian genocide: You say you want a resolution? - The world eagerly awaits the Democrat-controlled US Congress passing a resolution condemning the French for framing the Knights Templar. After all, nearly 700 years after Jacques DeMolay was burned at the stake in Paris, documents come to light that rehabilitate the once powerful order. They weren’t heretics, they were just rivals to King Philip’s power, and he owed them a lot of money, so he conspired with the pope to have the order accused of heresies and suppressed. And he just happened to inherit the Templars’ considerable property throughout France. Philip lied, Templars died. (READ MORE)
Don Surber: Democrats oppose 40% increase in SCHIP - Republican Sen. John Cornyn of Texas sent a letter today to Reid and Pelosi asking them to return to the negotiating table instead of allowing SCHIP to expire. SCHIP was a post-welfare reform measure passed by a Republican Congress in 1997. Republicans want a 40% increase in its funding. That is not good enough for Democrats, who apparently would rather allow this program to expire than legislate. (READ MORE)
Ed Morrissey: AQ Breach Not 'Fatal' - Eli Lake at the New York Sun follows up today on the exposure of private efforts to penetrate al-Qaeda's global Internet network. An independent analytical group that has focused on AQ operations now says that the damage was not as bad as first thought: "One of the world's foremost authorities on Al Qaeda says that last month's compromise of the intelligence community's penetration of the terrorist group's Internet communication system was a serious blow, but that, ultimately, the damage was not fatal." (READ MORE)
War Historian: Support Our Troops - Except when they don’t support your political opinions. Eric Alterman in yesterday’s AmericanProgress.org: “Last month, we were treated to wall-to-wall media apoplexy over MoveOn.org’s “General Betray Us” ad in the New York Times. The four all-news cable channels mentioned it over 500 times in the week following the advertisement’s appearance. The New York Times published five stories on the controversy alone. The Washington Post immediately declared that the advertisement ‘provided Republicans a life raft,’ and Time’s Joe Klein agreed, saying the advertisement was ‘potentially very damaging to Democratic candidates running across the country.’” (READ MORE)
Dan Riehl: Netroots: A Frightening Vision For America - If the increasingly conventional wisdom that the Netroots movement is now the driving force behind today's Democrat Party is true, than looking into their actual agenda for America is something voters considering supporting Democrat politicians in 2008 might want to take the time to do. It's posted by Chris Bowers at Open Left and in plain terms is substantial and should give conservatives and Libertarians cause for concern. Below are just some bullet points from the larger plan. It includes a neo-colonialist movement to expand Liberal political clout in Congress and goes well beyond simple voting rights for DC: (READ MORE)
ROFASix: Meanwhile, In the Peoples Republic of Belmont, CA - I never believed that in America that property rights could be trashed by the state and no one raises a fuss. But, that is exactly what happened in Belmont, CA, Tuesday according to "It's Official-Belmont Bans Smoking in Some Homes." Not surprising anymore, is that the sheep-like citizens of the state of California are not out protesting and demanding change. They have long ago agreed to become serfs of the state. It is why refugees from the state continue to flee east to more free environs. You expect such things in Europe where they believe freedom meant transferring control of property from the king to the control of an elected state. (READ MORE)
The Sundries Shack: What the Frost-fuffle is Really About (Hint, It’s Not About John Cole or Michelle Malkin) - John Cole is living the “takes one to know one” life today in rendering haughty judgement on Michelle Malkin. “She isn’t pushing principled positions- she is pushing crazy, and she is pushing it because it has proven to be a lucrative gravy train.” Pushing crazy. Yeah…well…if you happen to meet Mr. Cole, do yourself a favor. Don’t sneak up behind him and casually say the words “Terri Schaivo” unless you’re wearing a rain slicker and a football helmet. Here’s what Michelle Malkin’s detractors - John Cole included - don’t get about this whole Frost-fuffle. It’s not about them and it’s surely not about the family very much at all. In fact, the only reason the Frost family’s finances have been examined so carefully is because they allowed themselves to be the public face of the Democrats’ desired expansion of the program. (READ MORE)
Kim Zigfeld: I Stand with Michelle . . . Where do You Stand? - Let me take a momentary breather from covering the politics of democracy to express solidarity with my fellow Pajamas Media blogger Michelle Malkin (pictured). I'm not speaking for Publius Pundit now, just expressing my personal opinion. I haven't asked my colleagues what they think, and I'm sure if they've got an opinion, they'll state it. You see, a certain frenzied left-wing blogger named Ezra Klein (his website seeks to make money with a prominent ad trashing Ann Coulter, pandering for cash among the nutroots in the most shameless way imaginable; another ad implies George Bush hates children) published a post in which he challenged Michelle to a debate over health care and suggested that "we can set up the podiums in the shrubbery outside my house, since that seems to be the sort of venue she naturally seeks out." (READ MORE)
TigerHawk: Who is waging religious war? - A group of Muslim scholars has inadvertently revealed the vast gulf between their own religion and modern Christianity: Prominent Muslim scholars are warning that the "survival of the world" is at stake if Muslims and Christians do not make peace with each other. “In an unprecedented open letter signed by 138 leading Muslim scholars from every sect of Islam, the Muslims plead with Christian leaders ‘to come together with us on the common essentials of our two religions.’ The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, and Pope Benedict are believed to have been sent copies of the document which calls for greater understanding between the two faiths. The letter also spells out the similarities between passages of the Bible and the Koran. The Muslim scholars state: ‘As Muslims, we say to Christians that we are not against them and that Islam is not against them - so long as they do not wage war against Muslims on account of their religion, oppress them and drive them out of their homes.’” The reaction of thoughtful Christians to this letter has got to be "????". (READ MORE)
Political Pistachio: Pushing the Boundaries, in the name of our children - Democrats and Republicans alike wish to convince us that the programs, services, regulations and governmental control that they would like to place upon us is important because in the end it's for the children. Who can argue with that? We love our children, don't we? President Bush is still defending his big government bureaucracy, The No Child Left Behind Act, and refuses to accept any program that lessens the accountability of the teachers and schools under the program. After all, it's for the children. Of course, nobody tells you about how the program penalizes schools who fall short, placing them in a worse position, nor does anybody remember that schools are a state issue and the federal government has no business reaching its tentacles into the system. Instead of pumping money into the school system, perhaps we should just teach them to spend responsibly, and create more accountability - - - and use something that has worked well in the United States - good ol' competition. (READ MORE)
William Teach: TB Friday Featuring The Surrender Monkey: Nobel Prize Committee Surrenders - Happy Friday to all! It’s that time of the week again! Do you have an interesting post you want to share with everyone? The official Surrender Monkey of the Democratic Party says to do what the Lefties don’t, since they all have the same talking points: The Surrender Monkey is extremely pleased with today’s news. While it does not involve Liberal surrender to a violent extremist group, it involves the Goracle, Global Warming hysteria, AND the United Nations, who/which the Nobel Prize Committee has surrendered to…“Former Vice President Al Gore and the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change won the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize today for their efforts to spread awareness of man-made climate change and lay the foundations for counteracting it.” (READ MORE)
Knee Deep in the Hooah!: An Open Letter to Code Pink - I received this in an email from Move America Forward. It's a very touching letter from a Marine Recruiter whose office was vandalized during a recent protest from the anti-military group "Code Pink." Please read the letter below, and remember to support your local recruiter. They are soldiers, and they too deserve our support. “While the protest that you staged in front of my office on Wednesday, Sept. 26th, was an exercise of your constitutional rights, the messages that you left behind were insulting, untrue, and ultimately misdirected. Additionally, from the comments quoted in the Berkeley Daily Planet article, it is clear that you have no idea what it is that I do here. Given that I was unaware of your planned protest, I was unable to contest your claims in person, so I will therefore address them here.” (READ MORE)
Dr. Sanity: UNDOING: The Healing of the Traumatized Left Has Begun! - Al Gore wins the Nobel Peace Prize? I'm amazed. I thought Cindy Sheehan had it all sewn up. Or Hugo Chavez. I guess it just goes to show how much their cachet with the left has dropped in the last year or so; or, how much Gore's has risen in the pre-2008 election cycle. Undoing is a psychological defense mechanism where there is an attempt to take back behavior or thoughts that were unacceptable. An example of undoing would be excessively praising someone after having insulted them. I can't help thinking that Gore's prize is yet another attempt by the left to undo the horrible trauma of Election 2000. Ever the mouthpiece of leftist fantasy and delusion, Jimmy agrees (and don't forget, he was the 2002 winner of the same prize). (READ MORE)
Dennis Lormel: Is the Holy Land Foundation Trial Heading Toward a Mistrial? - Is the Holy Land Foundation (HLF) case headed toward a mistrial? If so, how does that impact the government with respect to pursuing terrorist financing cases? Likewise, do prosecutors retry the HLF case? These questions were posed to me today by a reporter covering the HLF trial. With respect to the jury deliberations, the jury has been out for nearly one month. The judge has replaced one juror and reportedly one juror would not vote on a verdict. This was an extremely complex case to present. The length of jury deliberation attests to the complexity of the evidence being considered. A hung jury is a real possibility. This could result in the judge declaring a mistrial. In the broad context of how the government pursues future terrorist financing cases, regardless of whether there is a mistrial, acquittal or conviction in the HLF matter, the government must assess the merits of each such case individually. (READ MORE)
Have an interesting post or know of a "must read?" Then send a trackback here and let us all know about it. Or you can send me an email with a link to the post and I'll update the Recon.
Trackbacked by:
Seven Years Ago Today... from Steeljaw Scribe
Gore Wins Nobel Peace Prize, ... President Gore Next? from Right Truth
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